Once, strolling through a farmer’s market in Rennes, France I came upon an unexpected sight: a fruit & vegetable stand with a heap of cactus figs. I told myself this was definitely something worth photographing, so I took my camera out. The stand’s vendor found this amusing; he leaned-in to be in the picture and waved at the camera. I told the vendor that the fruit I had just taken a picture of (known in France as figue de barbarie), was originally from my native Mexico; he smiled, we shook hands and I continued on my stroll.

This was the very first time I became aware of the fact that cactus figs (also known as Indian figs) were eaten in countries outside of Mexico. I always thought of both cactus figs and the prickly pear cactus or Opuntia (which bears cactus figs) as quintessentially Mexican. Both are, after all, part of Mexico’s coat of arms and an important part of traditional Mexican meals. Another indication of the importance of the prickly pear cactus (and its products) in Mexican identity can be found in pop culture. In this domain, the word nopal (the stem segments of the prickly pear cactus) is playfully used to denote Mexicaness. Some examples of this use are the rock & blues band Heavy Nopal as well as the music label Nopal Beat Records.